Orudzhev leads Kanamaru on final day of Aragon Test

Russian Egor Orudzhev was quickest on the second day at Motorland Aragon for SMP Racing by AVF as the two-day test at the Spanish circuit concluded on Thursday.

Orudzhev, who is set to compete in his third season in the rebranded World Series Formula V8 3.5 championship in 2017, set a best time of the whole test during the morning session with a 1:40.389, just 0.104 seconds faster than Japanese racer Yu Kanamaru of RP Motorsport.

Diego Menchaca was the leading rookie in third for Fortec Motorsports, a further 0.052 seconds back, while Roy Nissany made it two RP Motorsport drivers inside the top four.

Matevos Isaakyan was fifth for SMP Racing by AVF ahead of Sahara Force India F1 Team reserve driver Alfonso Celis Jr, who is also heading into his third campaign in the championship, this season with Fortec Motorsports.

Pietro Fittipaldi and Rene Binder finished seventh and eighth respectively for Lotus despite the former having his times deleted when his car was found to be underweight early in the session.

Barone Rampante and Teo Martin Motorsport rounded out the order, with Damiano Fioravanti finishing ahead of Konstantin Tereschenko and Giuseppe Cipriani, while Nelson Mason finally got his first laps in, but finished at the bottom of the time sheets.

The afternoon session was more disjointed, with teams and drivers initially reluctant to venture onto the track. Both Cipriani and Orudzhev caused red flags at turn five, while Kanamaru led a RP Motorsport 1-2 ahead of Nissany.

Fittipaldi and Binder placed third and fourth ahead of Isaakyan and Celis Jr, with Tereschenko seventh for Teo Martin Motorsport ahead of Menchaca and Cipriani.

After spinning into the gravel trap, Orudzhev did return to the track but was one of three drivers not to set a time along with Mason and Fioravanti.

Yu Kanamaru left Motorland Aragon with the best time of the afternoon session – Credit: Diederik van der Laan / Dutch Photo Agency